Aeroponic salad grows under artificial light in a 90,000 sq. ft. warehouse in an Bedford Park on the outskirts of Chicago. This indoor vertical farm, named "Farmed Here" was founded in 12.2012, and now produces 6,000 lbs. of packaged arugula, salad mix, baby kale, and four types of basil to the greater Chicago market. Their basil and kale is 100% organic as the fertilizer comes from tanks of live tilapia that are fed fish pellets before the effluent is filtered and processed by bacteria. All water on site is recycled. They sell their packaged greens to 70 Chicago-area retail outlets, including Wholefoods, Mariano's/Roundy's, etc, all within a 10-15 mile radius.
Founder Paul Hardej claims that only 10% of their costs are energy, and 20% labor. Most of their lighting is from daylight fluorescent bulbs, but they are starting to convert to the purple colored L.E.D. lights which are more energy efficient and produce a more plant-usable frequency of light. The equipment is expensive to set up, but provides a consistent year-round product. They currently only utilize 1/3 of the warehouse, and are hoping to expand and start another.
*Farmed Here went out of buinsess in late 2016
